VIDEO: Gedo makes EPL debut as Hull City suffer first home defeat of the season

Mohamed Nagy ‘Gedo’ made his Premier League debut as Hull City were left hard done as they were defeated for the first time at home this season by league strugglers Crystal Palace in a scrappy game.

The Tigers were dominant in possession from the get go with Yannick Sagbo breaking early on. Crystal Palace were powerful on the counter attack with Morocco international and former Arsenal front man Marouane Chamakh proving to be a threat. It was Palace who had the first real chance of the game, Jedinak threading a inch-perfect pass to Bolasie whose shot is saved by Speroni.

Hull City’s first major attempt on goal came in the 41st minute when an Ahmed Elmohamady cross found Robbie Brady whose shot was deflected allowing the Palace keeper to make the save. Just before the first half ended Elmohamady foolishly received a yellow card for pulling down Dwight Gayle by the neck as he was trying to get away.

Steve Bruce decided to make a half time change with Robbie Brady being replaced by Danny Graham. Paul McShane, who had a heavy clash of heads with Chamakh early on in the first half, was substituted 13 minutes into the second half for Liam Rosenoir. The game became very scrappy and no side managed to dominated.

Late in the second half the game started to liven up. Mohamed Nagy ‘Gedo’ started warming up on the sidelines, ready to make his Premier League debut. However, as he was doing so Hull City defender Maynor Figueroa was injured in a tackle meaning he was in need of treatment. It seemed that he needed to be substituted, however after a couple of minutes on the sideline he managed to recover and re-entered the field of play. This meant that Gedo’s substitution could take place and in the 78th minute he replaced Robert Koren. In doing so he became the 7th Egyptian to feature in the English Premier League. He played on the right-wing ahead of Ahmed Elmohamady and it took a while for him to get a touch of the ball.

One minute after Gedo’s arrival onto the pitch Crystal Palace had Congolese winger Yannick Bolasie unfairly sent off for a tackle on Jake Livermore. However, things didn’t get any good for Hull City as they conceded, only their second at home of the season. Cameron Jerome was in space on the left hand side, due to Elmohamady not chasing back and he played a square ball to Barry Bannan who tapped in.

This spurred the Tigers to press forward and attack. They piled the pressure on the Palace defence, who hadn’t won away from home all season. Gedo was able to produce some crosses but Palace, who put 11 players behind the ball were able to deal with it. The game ended 1-0 to Crystal Palace.

Ahmed Elmohamady had a very poor game, with many of his crosses going astray. His throw-ins were heavily criticised by the commentator saying they were “Sunday League football throw-ins” as he was penalised by the referee for his foul throw-ins.

We are Hull City Banner

During the first half there was an incident which involved Egyptian owner Dr Assem Allam. A massive “We Are Hull City” banner was being walked round the stadium by a group of fans. A large scuffle broke out as some fans tried to take it down. This comes as Dr Allam plans to change Hull City AFC’s name to Hull City Tigers, pending the English FA’s approval.

Hull City currently lie 13th in the league with 14 points and host Liverpool in next weeks game.

Highlights:

FACT: This was the first time since October 2008 (Wigan 0-1 Middlesbrough) that 2 Egyptians featured on the same team in the Premier League.

Ahmad Yousef is a proud Egyptian football fanatic who started playing football at a young age and was scouted for Ipswich Town. A hardcore Tottenham Hotspur fan and Zamalek supporter by blood, Ahmad mainly follows European football involving Egyptian players and the Egyptian national team. Ahmad’s love for Egyptian players abroad is what initially spurred him into writing. He now writes regularly and is also an editor at KingFut.com.

1 Comment

1 Comment

1904

November 24, 2013 at 2:48 AM

It was stewards (employees of the club) that tried to remove the banner, not “some fans”.